Norfolk 36:50.49N 76:17.7W
Lotus
Sun 15 May 2011 19:09
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The excitement of being
back in the water turned quickly into mild panic as we saw water spurting up
through a crack in the shaft seal (we assume there was still water inside the
tube which froze during the winter lay up). We were lifted straight out of
the water again, another $300 and had to track down a new shaft seal.
Unfortunately as it was the week end, no shaft seal suppliers were at home, so
we had to wait till Monday to order our new part. Luckily by late Tuesday
we had received and fitted the new seal (that's the royal we) and were back in
the water and raring to go on Wednesday. Oil and filter changes and
a few last jobs took up most of the day, but we managed to leave the B.E.S.T
boatyard, with a tear in our eye as we waved goodbye to David and Al on the
jetty. We spent a night at anchor in the sheltered bay at Urbanna, it felt
good to be on the water and out of a dusty, gravely
boatyard.
The next day brought strong winds, gusting to over
40knots but never the less, we'd been delayed long enough, so we set off
and made our way down to Deltaville where we anchored for the night having
received a proper spanking; our first sail had been a baptism of fire, it
would have been nice to have been broken in gently but at least the near gale
force winds and big seas had quickly got us atuned to life afloat
again.
The 60miles to Norfolk; our jumping off point for
Bermuda and a major naval and shipping port at the entrance to the Chesapeake,
was swift and uneventful, unlike our arrival into the Chesapeake a year before,
the shipping lanes were not teaming with military and commercial vessels so we
sailed all the way into the heart of downtown Norfolk, where we spent a day
wandering the streets, sampling the bars and chatting to fellow sailors.
We did a last minute shop and ended up carrying heavy,
finger slicing carrier bags for a couple of miles back to the boat. I'm
sure you can nearly hear John's moaning as you read this.
We had 650miles ahead of us to Bermuda and the prospect
of no or little wind for the forseable future, but as we wanted time
to dive in Bermuda, before Ade and Bex arrived for the Azores leg, we
decided to set off, even though this meant lots of
motoring.
We had 12 hours of light winds after 3 days and then
24hrs of 25knots and 10 foot seas on the last day; this almost seemed like a
treat after interminable hours of engine noise and vibration. We sailed
down the SW tip of Bermuda, with a good offing to clear the fringing reef.
We motored up the south coast, running out of diesel in one tank and relatively
unknown status in the other, as our gauges seem as useful as a condom full of
grit. We cleared customs, anchored up in St Georges (very sheltered)
harbour, jumped in the sea; well I put my bikini on and watched
John
take the plunge, and rested after our tiring
journey. That night John slept like a log, but snored like a
pig! |
